About “You've Got to Hide Your Love Away”

“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” is the third track on The Beatles' album Help!. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, they both said that Lennon was influenced by Bob Dylan in his work.

Firstly the influence was subtle, with John playing the harmonica on “I Should Have Known Better” in the same “puffing” style as Dylan’s. Then, in “I’ll Cry Instead”, his lyrics become more like an autobiography. In “I’m a Loser” he even adopted Bob Dylan’s persona, using touches of Bob’s lyrics.

I can’t understand, she let go of my hand
And left me here facing a wall

What have the artists said about the song?

That’s me in my [Bob] Dylan period. I am like a chameleon, influenced by whatever is going on. If Elvis [Presley] can do it, I can do it. If The Everly Brothers can do it, Paul [McCartney] and me can. Same with Bob Dylan.- John Lennon via Beatles Ebooks

I asked him not to sound too much like Dylan. He wasn’t doing it deliberately; it was subconscious more than anything.- George Martin

What did Paul McCartney say about Bob Dylan's influence on John Lennon?

John particularly became very enamoured of him because of his poetry. All those songs were great lyrically. Masses of cluttered lyrics like John had written in his books. So Dylan’s gobbledegook and his cluttered poetry was very appealing, it hit a chord in John, it was as if John felt, “That should have been me”.- Via Beatles Ebooks

Where did John write the song?

I was in Kenwood and I would just be songwriting. The period would be for songwriting and so, every day, I would attempt to write a song, and it’s one of those that you sort of sing a bit sadly to yourself, “Here I stand, head in hand.”- Via Beatles Ebooks

Who authored the song?

Paul claimed that it was Lennon:

I think it was 100 percent John [Lennon]’s song. I might have helped him on it, I have a vague recollection of helping to fill out some verses for him.- Via Beatles Ebooks

Was John singing about homosexuality?

No, he wasn’t. He denounced the claims:

I’d started thinking of my own emotions. I don’t know when exactly it started, like ‘"’m A Loser" or “Hide Your Love Away,” those kinds of things. Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself, which I’d done in my books. I think it was Dylan who helped me realize that—not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work…To express myself I would write “A Spaniard In The Works” or “In His Own Write” the personal stories which were expressive of my personal emotions. Then I started being me about the songs, not writing them objectively, but subjectively.- Via Beatles Ebooks